STAMFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) — A million-dollar home in Stamford, Conn. was leveled to the ground Tuesday, when it erupted in a massive explosion.

As CBS 2’s Lou Young reported, not much was left of the house besides a pile of smoldering rubble after the explosion at 305 Webbs Hill Rd. The blast shook the quiet suburban neighborhood full of multi-million dollar homes.

Alongside a backyard pool, debris was strewn on the lawn of a neighboring house. Through the trees, the orange glow of flames remained visible as what was left of the house continued to burn.

The explosion erupted just before 2 p.m. One next-door neighbor thought it was a natural disaster.

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“I thought it was an earthquake! And then when I looked down I saw a little bit of fire and that’s when I was worried about my neighbor Joe. But he’s OK is what they tell me,” neighbor Paxi Parmesuter told CBS 2’s Young.

Nearby residents told WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell the blast was felt more than a mile away.

“The report that I got was that a house was vaporized and that’s a description that’s hard to imagine until you see it,” Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia told WCBS 880. “The house was actually demolished in a million pieces. I’ve never quite seen the kind of damage to a building before and the debris was spread out probably 400-500 feet around where the house once stood.”

While the house was blown clear out of existence, the homeowner survived. Police said he was on the property, but not inside the structure when it blew.

When emergency crews arrived, it was a scene of smoke, flames and confusion.

One piece of video taken by Stamford Police Chief Jon Fontneau showed the home’s door hundreds of yards from where the house stood.

“It was a scene out of hell, it really was. The house was leveled, smoke. There was debris in the trees, glass shards, front door, back door thrown many feet away. There was actually a window frame up in a pine tree. Pine trees were snapped. So it was a very big explosion,” Fontneau said.